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When Debt Is Opportunity

An ex-con-turned-collector notes that it is common to work in a few stolen accounts with legitimate ones to sweeten the return.

By

Roger Lowenstein

Nov. 27, 2014 4:27 p.m. ET

Seen from another planet, the credit industry could not fail to amaze. Banks lend trillions of dollars in revolving credit, and, routinely, millions of U.S. borrowers cannot make their payments. When the debts are six months overdue, the banks walk away, selling this “paper” for as little as a few cents on the dollar. For the banks, delinquent paper is a cost of doing business. For others, it is an opportunity.

It is the latter story that is told in “Bad Paper: Chasing Debt From Wall Street to the Underworld,” and it is not...